Word

συκοφαντέω

sykophantéō · G4811 · Greek · 2 occurrences

See all 2 in Search

Meanings

to make false charges

To bring false charges against someone, especially with the intent of personal profit

Examples
Luke 3:14 And soldiers also were questioning him, saying, “What are we to do, we as well?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone, nor harass anyone, and be content with your wages.”
Luke 19:8 But Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I am giving to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I am giving back four times as much.”

How it’s used In 3 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

Who or what does itSubject

2 occurrences in 2 groups

Not stated: I 1
Not stated: you (more than one) 1

What it acts on, or what is saidObject

1 occurrences in 1 groups

τὶςsomeone 1

What is done to itIt is the object

1 occurrences in 1 groups

ἔπωto say 1

When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.

MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Near synonyms 2 words

κατηγορέω katēgoréō · G2723 · to accuse, to bring charges: Greek verb for making formal accusations or bringing charges; overlaps with συκοφαντέω in the domain of accusation, but κατηγορέω refers to the general act of accusing or charging someone, without implying the false or extortionate nature inherent in συκοφαντέω (which carries connotations of fraudulent accusation and extortion)
πλεονεκτέω pleonektéō · G4122 · to take advantage of, to exploit, exploitation: Greek verb for taking unfair advantage or defrauding, semantically close to συκοφαντέω's sense of fraudulent extortion

In the other Testament 1 word

עָשַׁק ʻâshaq · H6231 · to practice extortion, to defraud, to abuse: Hebrew verb for extortion and fraud, overlapping with συκοφαντέω's extended sense of defrauding or wrongfully accusing for gain

Semantic domains 1 entry

To make false charges33.434: The verb describes abusing one's position to extort or wrongly accuse. John the Baptist tells soldiers, “Do not extort money from anyone, nor harass anyone, and be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14).

Word family 5 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

σῦκον sŷkon · G4810 · fig · 4×συκῆ sykē · G4808 · fig tree · 16×συκοφαντέωsykophantéō · G4811συκάμινος sykáminos · G4807 · mulberry tree · 1×συκομωραία sykomōraía · G4809 · sycamore-fig tree · 1×

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon συκοφάντω; 1 aorist ἐσυκοφάντησα; (from συκοφάντης, and this from σῦκον 'fig', and φαίνω…

συκοφάντω; 1 aorist ἐσυκοφάντησα; (from συκοφάντης, and this from σῦκον 'fig', and φαίνω 'to show'. At Athens those were called συκοφανται whose business it was to inform against anyone whom they might detect exporting figs out of Attica; and as sometimes they seem to have extorted money from those loath to he exposed, the name συκοφάντης from the time of Aristophanes down was a general term of opprobrium to designate a malignant informer, a calumniator; a malignant and base accuser from love of gain (but cf. Liddell and Scott, under the word); hence, the verb συκοφάντω signifies)
1. to accuse wrongfully, to calumniate, to attack by malicious devices (Aristophanes, Xenophon, Plato, others).
2. to exact money wrongfully; to extort from, defraud: Lk 3:14 (here R. V. margin accuse wrongfully); with a genitive of the person and accusative of the thing, Lk 19:8 (τριάκοντα μνᾶς παρά τίνος Lysias, p. 177, 32. The Sept. for עָשַׁק, to oppress, defraud, Job 35:9; Eccl 4:1; Psalm 118:122; πένητα, Prov 14:31; Prov 22:16; πτωχούς, Prov 28:3).

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain

Topical studies with this word 1 entry

Accuse, Blame2 occurrences

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Sources

eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0